Pulp Epiphany
by blueSKIES247
Summary: Where a puppy runs around the kitchen, Lilly realizes Miley and Jake are orange juice compatible, and maybe the tin man has a heart after all. Jiley.


**i miss jiley. simple as that. jesse is stupid, no one likes him, and he should just go away. and on fanfiction, the hannah montana fandom has been conquered by the jonas brothers. i am disappointed in humanity right now. so here's a oneshot, because there's not much else for me to do about it.**

**enjoy.**

* * *

It's 8:30 in the morning and Lilly is struck again by how inconvenient it is to be a morning person living with a family of get-up-at-five-til-noon people. She's already eaten breakfast, made her bed, taken a shower, gotten changed, done her hair, and finished her math homework. It's Saturday, so she still has at least three hours to kill before any Stewart wakes up.

Hannah had an award show last night, so Miley is out cold in her bed right now. She's even snoring a little. Lilly laughs and walks over to organize Miley's bedside table (force of habit.) She readjusts the lamp, picks up the used tissue by the corner of the two-ply, and is about to turn to throw it away when her eyes catch sight of the picture frame.

It's a photo of Miley, Lilly, and Oliver taken back when Oliver came to visit, the day after Miley broke up with Jake. In fact, this very frame used to hold a picture of Miley and Jake being all cute on the beach. Lilly is surprised that Miley had the heart to replace it. But after sliding her finger in the gap and pulling out the photo, sure enough, the picture of Jake is still there, hidden behind the new one. Lilly smiled knowingly. Miley would never get rid of the picture; she loves Jake too much. She loves him way too much than she will ever admit. She loves him too much for her own good.

Lilly sets the frame back and sighs. Poor Miley. Jake Ryan was the single most horrible part of her life. Yet he was the best part too.

After quietly exiting their barn of a room, Lilly opens the back door to the main house and opened the fridge to get out some orange juice. It's amusing because there's three different cartons of Tropicana on the side door shelf of the fridge: No Pulp for Lilly, Some Pulp for Jackson, and Lots of Pulp for Miley. (Robby Ray only drinks freshly-squeezed orange juice, thank you very much.) Most families would just compromise on trivial matters like preferred pulp levels, but orange juice is kind of a big deal at the Stewart household.

Just as she uncapped the carton, she hears a quite bark from outside. Thinking it was just a neighborhood dog, she continues to pour her pulp-free juice into a glass. When she heard the barking a second time, she realizes that the only neighbors they have within earshot is Sienna's family next door, and they don't have a dog. She puts the carton back in the fridge and there goes the barking again, only this time, it's followed by a loud "_Shhhhh!"_ It seems to come in the direction of the front door. With glass of OJ in hand, she walks to the door and cautiously opens it.

There, crouched on the ground holding down a cardboard box, is Jake Ryan.

Speak of the devil.

When the door clicked open, Jake looks up with a deer-in-headlights-with-its-hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar expression, but relaxes a little after he sees it's only Lilly. He's wearing a white v-neck, dark jeans, converse, and his trademark jacket. It's a shame, really, because Lilly wants to remember him the way she last saw him: walking away dejectedly in an elf costume two sizes too small.

"Hi," he says. Another bark comes from the box. Lilly notices the air holes in it.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

With a shy smile, he stands up. The box moves a little before the lid is popped open and the cutest puppy in the world sticks its furry little head out. Lilly "aww"ed involuntarily and her heart probably melted a little.

"I'm standing on the doorstep of my ex-girlfriend's house with a puppy," he says. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Well, I'm hoping you're giving Miley a puppy." Lilly scoops up the tiny Jack Russell Terrier and giggles as it licks her face. "May I ask why?"

"I messed up, Lilly. Big time. Miley had every right to do what she did to me back there on the set. She was right, I shouldn't have been with that girl. If you remember, I told Mrs. Claus that I wanted a puppy and that's when she exploded, saying how I already had a puppy to nibble on her ear, and I was stupidly trying to defend myself by saying I rejected lots of other puppies and it was only this once..." he looked down and shuffled his feet. "I just want Miley to know that she's the only puppy in my life."

"And you want to be the only puppy in her life?" Lilly guesses, nodding at the dog.

"If she wants to name him Jake, all the better...actually no, that'd be awkward."

Lilly takes a sip of her juice and stares at Jake inquisitively.

"Is it cheesy?" he asks.

She gulps and mulls it over. "No, not really. It's kinda romantic, I guess. Although if you give a puppy as cute as this, you can win over any girl's heart. Nice ploy."

"Thanks. I thought of it all by myself."

Lilly turns around to hide her eye-roll. She opens the door wider and walks in; Jake takes that as an invitation to enter the house as well. Releasing the terrier and letting it roam free, Lilly watches Jake anxiously glance around the room.

"Don't worry. They're not getting up for another few hours. Want some orange juice?"

"Uh, sure." Jake sits down on the couch. The puppy, finished with running around the kitchen counter seven times, leaps up to explore the couch cushions.

"What pulp level do you like?" Lilly opens the fridge door to display the citrus variety.

He raises an eyebrow at the peculiarity, but this is the Stewarts' residence after all, so he lets it go. "Lots of Pulp, please."

Lilly gets out a glass and pours the drink. She smiles as she watches the tiny chunks of orange glop unceremoniously into the glass. Lots of Pulp. Just like Miley.

"So what now?" She hands him the juice. "Do you expect Miley to see the puppy and decide to go right back into your arms? She was right when she said you were out of second chances, you know. More like out of fifteenth chances."

He doesn't say anything for a long time, but then looks at Lilly with such an exasperated expression that she realized he wasn't saying anything out of courtesy. And somehow, something clicked in her mind and she gets it now. Slowly, she sets her glass of juice on the coffee table.

"Oh. It's hardly fair, is it?" she says.

"No. It's not."

"I guess we all love Miley so much that we never bothered to view this from your side. We're all criticizing you for screwing up so many times when Miley's been doing the same exact thing. She pulled the whole dress-up-as-a-goose-so-Jake-will-dump-her thing, the let's-get-Mikayla-fired thing, and...oh my god, why did I not think of this earlier? Was Miley not this close to kissing Jesse when she was still dating you?"

"She didn't kiss him though."

"But you and I both know she would have. I know Miley. The girl's got about this much self-control." Lilly holds her fingers two millimeters apart. "Even if she didn't physically cheat on you, I'm pretty sure she cheated on you emotionally. And now that I think about it, when Miley was dating one of Oliver's friends, she was a total bitch to him just because he was a foot shorter than her. So, you don't get a second chance, but it's okay for Miley to dress up as a reindeer and beg the guy for a second chance? Talk about a double standard."

Jake simply smiles.

"Why didn't you mention anything earlier? I'm sure if I keep brainstorming I'll think of a ton more evidence we can use in your defense."

"You make a great lawyer, Lilly. But I'm not going to say anything bad about Miley. Remember, that was all you just now. You said all those accusations against Miley, not me."

Lilly smirks. "Smart boy. Have you been _pretending_ to be a stupid actor this entire time?"

"I'm going to _pretend_ I'm not offended."

They both drink their juice and sit in silence. The puppy wandered over to the table and chairs, zigzagging between all the legs.

"She probably still won't take you back," she points out. "Even if it is a sound argument, she'll go against it just to save her pride and dignity. She's stubborn like that."

"I know."

Finally, the tired terrier trots over to them, leaps into Jake's lap, and settles down. Lilly strokes the fur of his little brown and white head.

"Is she...dating anyone?" he asks with his head is down.

Lilly can feel the tension and ponders lying for a moment. "Not, like, Facebook official or anything. But she did go on a date with...Jesse...but the date was a disaster since he talked on the phone with his Dad the whole time," she says the last part really, really fast hoping it would be too quick for Jake to comprehend it.

"...what?"

"Okay, so she kinda has this thing with Jesse again. But as Miley, not Hannah, this time."

She shut her eyes partially, scared of Jake's reaction. His face was passive before he leaned back dejectedly and muttered, "Shit."

"I guess it's sorta logical for her to date Jesse now that she broke up with you," Lilly says. "It seems like a waste, though. She didn't go through all that drama just to decide her heart chose you and then a few months later dump you for Jesse again. You could be the one. If this was a movie, you'd be the right guy and she'd be the best friend that you fall in love with. The chances to meet somebody like you are a million to one."

"Hey, aren't you always nagging me about using other people's words?"

"I was _quoting_," she clarifies with a glare in his direction. "I'm just saying, Hannah wrote so many awesome songs about you. God, how did I not realize any of this before? It's like you show up at the door with a puppy and I have this miraculous revelation."

"Do you want to maybe say a few of those good words to Miley?" Jake sets the puppy aside on the couch, stands up and checks his phone. "I should get going. I turned down this movie deal for a new season of Zombie High which starts filming today."

"_Why? _No one watches that show anymore. So four years ago."

"Well, the zombie slayer is much more attractive now."

Lilly scrunches her nose in disgust. "Seriously, how does Miley ever see past your ego?"

He laughs. "Okay fine. The comeback season is supposed to be 'Zombie College', but I begged the writers to come up with a better title. And honestly, I only took the offer because they shoot here in Hollywood."

"Awww, to be close to Miley? Underneath the ego there really is a heart."

"Thank you, Lilly. You make me feel so much better."

"No problem, Jake. And don't worry, I will definitely talk to Miley. She'll love the puppy. She likes corny, romantic stuff like that." She walks him to the door and he steps out, glancing longingly back at the house one last time before giving Lilly an awkward side-hug goodbye and then he's gone.

That Jake Ryan, he always comes and goes, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Lilly just can't decide which category this visit goes under.

The puppy rolls over in his sleep and falls off the couch. He shakes his head, confused, then walks over to Lilly. Petting his head, she picks up her empty glass from the coffee table as well as Jake's glass. The actor took two gulps out of this and forgot to finish the rest. Such a waste of so much orange juice. Lilly would drink it herself but there's pulp. She walks to the sink, set her glass inside, and is about to pour Jake's juice down the sink when she gets struck with an idea. Promptly walking to the kitchen table, she sets Jake's nearly full glass of Lots of Pulp orange juice right in front of Miley's spot at the table.

* * *

Miley hides just to the right of the back door, eavesdropping on Lilly and Jake's conversation. Part of her wants to run in and beat the crap out of Jake. Part of her wants to run in and kiss him senseless. And another part of her is crumbling piece by piece, blow by blow, because she knows everything they're saying is true. So instead, she just stands and listens.

"...Underneath the ego there really is a heart."

Taking a risk, Miley steps over and peers in through the window to see the two at the door saying goodbye. Jake's hair is shorter than last time and slightly gelled, just how she likes it. Before she can come to any resolution about whether or not to make her presence known, Lilly has shut the door and Jake is gone, once again. The third part of her crumbles completely.

The puppy sniffs towards the back door and barks once, like he knows his soon-to-be-owner is standing right there on the other side. She gives the dog a smile, hurries back to her room, jumps in bed, and pretends she has been sleeping all along.


End file.
